Shikhar Dhawan will be looking to break the record of Sourav Ganguly to become the second-quickest Indian batsman to reach 6000 ODI runs.
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It has been a long wait for Indian batsman, Shikhar Dhawan, to finally captain the national side into a series. The opening batsman will finally lead the national side into a series against Sri Lanka. Six matches in total will be played between the two sides in the series. These include three one-day internationals (ODI) and three T20s. Regular skipper Virat Kohli will be away in England for a five-match Test series against the Three Lions. Dhawan will have his eyes on the record of a former Indian captain. The left-hander will be looking to break the record of becoming the second-quickest Indian batsman to reach 6000 ODI runs. The mark is currently set by Sourav Ganguly
Virat Kohli is the one who holds the record for the fastest Indian to reach 6000 runs. He did it in 136 innings. Ganguly is currently second on that list as he managed to reach the milestone in 147 innings. Dhawan has scored 5977 ODI runs in his career so far and he has done so in 139 innings. Therefore he has only 23 more runs to get and he has eight innings to do it in. It is safe to say that he will break Ganguly’s record eventually, and he would like to achieve it as the skipper of the side.
Dhawan has a healthy average of 45.28 and a strike rate of 93.9 with 17 centuries in his ODI career so far. When he reaches the milestone, he will be only the 10th Indian batsman with 6000 or more runs in ODI cricket. He will join an illustrious list that includes several greats of Indian cricket including the likes of Kohli, Ganguly, and Sachin Tendulkar. It will be a well-deserved feat considering how much the left-hander has contributed to Indian cricket over the years.
Sachin Tendulkar (18426), Virat Kohli (12169), Sourav Ganguly (11363), Rahul Dravid (10889), MS Dhoni (10773), Mohammad Azharuddin (9378), Rohit Sharma (9205), Yuvraj Singh (8701), and Virender Sehwag (8273) lead the Indian list of highest run-scorers in ODI cricket. Five of those batsmen were in the 2011 world cup-winning Indian team.
There is also another record that Dhawan will be eyeing as he prepares for the Sri Lanka series. The opener will look to become only the 12th Indian batsman to complete 1000 ODI runs against Sri Lanka. The veteran has amassed a total of 983 runs against the Lankan Lions and is only 17 runs away from the milestone. His average against the island nation is at a whopping 70.21 at the moment. He has scored four centuries and five half-centuries against them so far.
“It is a big achievement for me that I have become the captain of the Indian side. As a leader, my idea is to keep everyone together and happy that is the most important thing,” Dhawan said on a Star Sports program. “We have got a lovely bunch of boys, great support staff, and we have worked earlier as well,” he concluded.
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